18 months previously, my wife and I did a cruise on Oceania Insignia, which was quite enjoyable. This cruise on the Oceania Regatta was a disappointment. Unfortunately for the Regatta, we had just done a cruise on the Cunard Queen Victoria and there was no comparison. The Queen Victoria is far better. We have done 26 cruises on 11 different cruise lines. The cost of cruising with Oceania is very expensive because they claim they are so good.

The crew on Regatta were wonderful, polite and friendly. So were the Queen Victoria and other cruise line crew. The cabin was the same as many other cruise lines. The single beds were very narrow and had a sloping top so that you had to be constantly alert not to roll out of bed. The general decor of the ship was very good, but again, inferior to the Queen Victoria. The food was the biggest disappointment. Oceania claim they have the best cuisine of any cruise ship. This is definitely not true. It appeared that there were two chefs working. One was very good and the other was hopeless. One meal of fish or meat would be exquisite and the next had to be left uneaten due to being so dry and tough. Many of the meals would have so much salt on them that your mouth and throat burned for hours afterwards. What would this do to people with a heart problem who could not have salt?

In the buffet on the 9th deck, the passageway between the serving counters was so narrow that one had trouble getting to the counter and you were being continually bumped by other passengers. My wife and I reached the stage that we looked upon eating as an unpleasant chore. So many other passengers whom we spoke to all felt the same way. Read more